Force
by 8I
Summary: An alternate ending to Divided We Fall. *being rewritten*
1. Chapter 1

**Force**

By Gecko

**Prologue**

* * *

Beauty. Energy. Power.

Those three words couldn't even begin to describe It. What ever It was.

_Speed Force. _The words came unbidden to his mind.

Suddenly a hand appeared beside him. "_FLASH!" _he heard a voice scream.

"Shayera? It's so beautiful here. There's a Force. A Speed Force." He felt the pull of the Force, stronger now, and gaining strength. "It's calling me home. I have to go now . . . ." He could feel it, to the very centre of his core. _Come . . . come . . . ._

"_NO, WALLY!" _she cried. _"Take my hand!" _He felt her hand grasp tightly onto his forearm, and did not resist. Not yet.

"_I'm here too, Wally!" _John.

"_We're all here." _Clark.

"_You've got to come back to us." _John again.

He could feel the pull strengthen on both sides. It hurt.

Then, he knew. Neither side would let up. Not until he made a decision.

The Speed Force sang. Not with words, tunelessly . . . just sound. It was entrancing. The Speed Force gained strength, and Shayera's shoulder and wing were pulled in. Then he remembered. His friends, family, his life. How could he leave them to deal with this harsh, cold world, while he took the easy route? He knew he could never be that selfi-

He took too long in deciding. The Speed Force chose for him. It was unstoppable now.

Shayera's head was now inside of the Force. He could see her gritting her teeth at the strain.

"Let go," he said gently, calmly. "You have to let go."

"_NO!" _Their voices were warped. He couldn't tell who was saying what anymore.

"I'm sorry." He met Shayera's gaze, and pulled his arm from her grasp.

"Goodbye."

* * *

**A/N: **New story! Not a humor one, though . . . . Hooray for short sentances! I'm really going to be working on using more description than I normally do, so let me know how I do on that factor. Be honest! I think I got a bit reppetetive in the 'he felt' and the 'he knew'. It's a bit better than before, on that factor.

Anyway, a **Thank You **to **Miles333 **for betaing!

I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this story, so it'll be as much of a surprise for me as it is for you. Well, not quite . . . I'll stop rambling now, and let you get on with your lives. :D


	2. Who needs the Justice League?

**Chapter One**

_Who Needs the Justice League?_

* * *

All over the country, no, the _world, _people turned to their TVs, tuned their radios, all waiting to hear what Superman had to say.

--

Superman had never had trouble talking to crowds. It was easy for him, because he was confident, and the words flowed freely. This was partially because he usually had a pre-planned speech that he would practice until it was perfect, but _still. _

Today however… today was different. As he gazed across the restlessly shifting crowd, he could not force himself to speak the robotic words that he had prepared. _Those words mean nothing, _he thought bitterly. _Just emotionless blather._

Superman decided to forget the speech, and 'wing it'. He smiled faintly. That was something Wally would have said.

Superman took a deep breath, and began.

--

The red-haired man sat in the dimly lit bar, with a friend and a glass of whiskey.

As he brought the glass to his lips, his eyes strayed to the TV in the corner above the bar.

The camera was focused on Superman, and in the background he could see the rest of the 'Big Seven'. No, one was missing. His brow furrowed with worry. He hoped the speedster was alright. Probably just injured…

The man focused back on Superman as the hero began to speak.

"Several years ago, when there was still only – still only the seven of us, we were taken captive by a Justice League from an alternate universe – the Justice Lords. Their world was perfect. The streets were clean, there was no crime – but the people were afraid. The Flash is the conscience, probably of every Justice League in every universe. When their universe's Flash was killed, they crossed a line. They learned to kill.

"Our Flash never agreed to the building of the laser. He said it was too much power. He was overruled, which in itself says that we've already started down the path of the Justice Lords." Superman took a deep breath, before continuing. "Yesterday, Lex Luthor and Brainiac fused together to create one, god-like body. We were all down… all except for Flash. He… he destroyed Brainiac, but was killed in the process."

The glass of whiskey fell from the red-haired man's grasp, and shattered on the floor.

"Shame," said the man's companion while lighting a cigarette. "He was a likeable kid. For a superhero." He paused, seeing the look on his friend's face. "You alright, Rudy?

Rudy did not hear him. He did not hear anything, except for the blood pounding in his ears.

"Oh… God," he finally choked out, stumbling to his feet. "Oh God."

His friend frowned at him. "Rudy? You're taking this pretty hard. Here, have another drink."

Rudy shook his head numbly. The Flash… his son… was dead.

--

"… Killed in the process."

Silence. Complete and utter silence.

Then, somewhere in the crowd, Superman heard the Question whisper, "Armageddon."

This prompted Superman to finish his speech. "As a result, we are disbanding the Justice League."

"What?!"

"We can't disband!"

"I think it's the right decision…"

One voice cut above the rest.

"So that's it? You're just going to give up?" Green Arrow strode forward so that he was standing in front of the crowd. "You remember what we did yesterday? We saved the world – again. Hell, from what I hear, Flash practically saved the universe. You don't think that has any value? Look, I see what you're getting at with the whole Justice Lords concept, but I don't think that's an issue. Not anymore. Not with us-" he gestured to the crowd of heroes, "-watching. So if you want to quit anyway, fine, we'll throw you a parade, but the Justice League goes on. The world needs the Justice League, and the Justice League needs you, Superman."

"The Justice League needs Flash!" Question shouted. "Armageddon!"

"The Justice League," Zatanna cut in smoothly, "needs everyone it can get. Flash was an important member, but we don't have him anymore, so we'll just have to deal with it. The Justice League will fall apart without you leading us, Superman, and as Green Arrow said – the world needs the Justice League."

* * *

**A/N: **I have an illustration for the prologue! It is here: http://agentgecko(dot)deviantart(dot)com/art/Force-Prologue-108409576. I'm going to be doing at least one illustration for each chapter. :D


	3. The Black Flash

**Chapter Two**

_The Black Flash_

"_WALLY!"_

"_Goodbye."_

Wally looked sadly at the place where Shayera had been. He reached forward, hoping to feel something, _anything _different, but his hand met nothing. He bit his lip, desperately wishing he had come to his senses sooner, that he hadn't been tempted by the Speed Force, wishing –

He was startled out of his thoughts by a tap on the shoulder. He whirled around, and came face to face with Death.

Wally staggered back in horror. "What…what _are _you?"

Its long-limbed, wiry frame was clothed in a twisted copy of his own costume. It was black, except for the red lighting bolt earpieces and the red lightning bolt over the white circle emblazoned on its chest. Its fingers were tipped with claws, and its face was grey, rotting flesh. Its eyes were white orbs that seemed to see into his very soul.

Wally felt himself go cold.

… _Blaaaaack Flaaaaashhhh…_

"What do you want?"

The Black Flash raised its hand and gestured with its forefinger to follow. Then, without waiting, it turned and ran. Wally's brain was screaming, _Stay! Don't follow! _but it seemed that something was controlling his body, and he began to run as well.

He quickly caught up to the Black Flash. "Where are you taking me?"

It either didn't hear him, or was ignoring him, for it didn't spare him a glance. Wally ground his teeth in frustration.

The Black Flash suddenly stopped, and Wally slid to a stop beside him. The Black Flash pointed at a red figure that Wally could barely make out in the swirling Speed Force, and then seemed to disintegrate into dust and blow away.

The red figure ran towards him, and turned out to be a masked man. "Who are you?" he asked, stopping in front of Wally.

"Flash," he automatically replied. The other man frowned.

"But – that doesn't make any sense. I'm Flash."

That was the first time Wally really noticed the other man's costume. It was different from his, yet so familiar. The yellow wings on the earpieces, the jagged belt, the lighting bolt insignia on the chest.

"Uncle Barry?"

"_Uncle _Barry-"

Wally pulled his mask off, and the other Flash stared at him a moment, before recognition entered his blue eyes. "Wally?!"

Wally pulled his uncle into a tight hug. Barry grabbed Wally's shoulders and held him out at arms' length. "But Wally! You're so much older, and the _Flash_, and – and I haven't been here that long!"

Wally looked incredulously at him. "Haven't been – Uncle Barry, you've been gone for nine years."

Barry stared at him in disbelief. "Nine years. _Nine years. _That's impossible… I _couldn't _have…unless…unless time flows differently here…"

A new voice spoke. "Or not at all."

* * *

**A/N: **That was nice. The Black Flash showed him where his uncle was! I didn't invent the Black Flash, it's a comic book thing. It's basiclly Death... with superspeed.... in a black Flash costume... Speedsters are supposed to see it before they die, but I hadn't thought of it before, so Wally got to see it after. 'Cause he's special.

Sorry it took me so long to put this up. I actually finished it about a week ago, but I wanted to finish the illustration first, but the illustration hasn't really gone anywhere, so... yeah. I originally was going to make this chapter longer too, but I decided to end it on a mini-cliffhanger. Who is the new voice? Let's see if you can guess!

I really wanted to end it at the 'came face to face with Death' line, but then the chapter would have onl been a few sentences long, and people wouldn't have been very happy with me. :P

Thanks **Miles333 **for betaing! :D


	4. Stuff Happens Or Does It?

**READ THIS FIRST READ THIS FIRST READ THIS FIRST READ THIS FIRST:**

**Sorry about that, but I'm trying to catch the attention of people who skip author's notes. Hopefully it worked.**

**Okay, so here's what's up. This story is being rewritten. Why? Because there's a whole bunc****h of stuff I don't like about it. Also, I like writing in first person better than in third, and I was kind of stuck, so I said myself, 'Well, why don't you just rewrite it in first person?' So that's what I'm doing. Some of you may be thinking, 'Wait! How is that going to work? Is it all going to be from Flash's point of view? How will we know what's going on with everyone else?' You'll find out... but not right now. You'll probably figure it out by the second chapter, and by the third chapter it should be obvious. **

**I'm mostly posting this because people keep putting _Force_ on their alert. So you can stop wondering if you should bother alerting it or just check in every now and then.**

**Anyway, since it always annoyes me when stories I've alerted but haven't been updated in ages are suddenly updated and I go 'Yeah! Finally I'll know if so-and-so's grip weakens and thus falls from the cliff, or if someone saves him/her in time!' (that was a reference to the term 'cliffhanger' in case you couldn't figure out what I was going on about) and then my hopes are dashed, because it's just an author's note going, 'Sorry I haven't updated, I will soon, promise!' They usually break their promise, too. As a result, I decided to post the first rewritten chapter of this story. Don't be expecting to see it up as its own story any time soon, though. I want to get a bunch of chapters written first, and I've been picking away at the second chapter for several months now. At least I know the gist of what's going to happen in chapter three! **

**Sorry for this excessively long note. It probably would have been a lot easier to say, 'Hi. I'm rewriting this. Come back later. Read this chapter if you're bored.' I tend to ramble at 1:00 in the morning. Also, this chapter didn't look quite so short on Microsoft Word. Oh well. **

**IN CASE YOU SKIPPED THE AUTHOR'S NOTE BECAUSE IT'S TOO LONG, GO BACK AND READ IT ANYWAY. THIS WON'T MAKE SENSE OTHERWISE.**

**Chapter One  
**_**Rational Panic**_

I think I just destroyed Brainiac, but I don't really care right now 'cause there's electricity crackling all around me, and rocks are floating and "I feel kinda… funny." I'm all _tingly _and that might be from the electricity, but it's more on the _inside, _which doesn't really make sense, but now the others are getting all blurry and now they're gone and all I can see is this _light, _this – this _energy, _and it's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

I can barely hear Shayera call my name over the roaring sound in my ears, but her hand suddenly appears and grabs my wrist.

"Shayera? It's so beautiful here. There's this –" I'm not sure how to describe it, and my next words don't really feel like _I'm_ saying them, if that makes sense. "- Force. A Speed Force. It's calling me home." _Speed Force?_ That's actually kinda lame, and a bunch of Star Wars lines immediately come to mind.

It feels like my, I dunno, _soul _or my mind or _something _is being pulled from my body and it's taking all of my will power to stop it from happening for a little longer, but I don't think I can keep it up. "I have to go now."

"No, Wally!" Shayera is probably shouting, 'though I can barely hear her. "Take my hand!"

I try, but I guess I've lost all my strength, 'cause I can't get a grip. I think the uh… 'Force' is pulling Shayera in too, because her shoulder and part of her wing have appeared.

"I'm here too, Wally," GL says, and I think Superman says something too, but I don't know what it is. Shayera's head and shoulders have been pulled in too, and I can see she's pulling as hard as she can, and I'm glad I have such great friends.

GL says, "You've got to come back to us."

But "I don't think I can," and there's this horrible feeling when _something _happens, and now I can _see _my body crumple and now I'm some sort of energy being and it looks like I'm _disintegrating. _I think I should be more afraid then I am, but I feel all calm and like I'm in control of the situation, but I'm really, _really _not.

Shayera's staring at me, and I smile kind of sheepishly and wave, but before I can say anything, her and my body are gone, or maybe I'm the one who leaves. My body. Does that mean I'm dead? I guess so. Holy crap.

This is so weird. I can't even begin to describe what it's like to not have a body. I guess _weird _pretty much covers it. And freaky. _Really, really _freaky, and ohgodohgod I'm _dead _what do I do?! This is so bad, I don't like not having a body, what am I s'posed to do here _I'm already getting bored!!_

_STOP PANICKING!_

Alright, pull yourself together, Wally West. So much for irrational calmness. Okay, okay, what would Batman do?

…

I bet not even Batman knows what Batman would do. Sure he's this great escape artist, but how do you escape from a place like this, it doesn't even have any boundaries! Doesn't have - _how do I even know that?!_

_WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?!_


End file.
